


pre-destined, the future: variable

by spock



Category: Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
Genre: Family Fluff, Halloween, M/M, Past Relationship(s), Post-Canon, Sharing a Bed, Unconventional Families
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-28
Updated: 2014-09-28
Packaged: 2018-02-19 03:40:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,274
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2373182
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spock/pseuds/spock
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The boys, as always, are amenable to their costumes being a matching set.</p>
            </blockquote>





	pre-destined, the future: variable

**Author's Note:**

  * For [youjik33](https://archiveofourown.org/users/youjik33/gifts).



CHAPTER ONE

October rolls around and the boys show an interest in trick-or-treating. All Chas can think about are the endless possibilities where things go wrong — tampered candy, kidnapping, vehicular manslaughter because some asshole was speeding down a residential street. He's been trying his best to be less paranoid, but it's a work in progress that increasingly feels like a battle he'll never win. He's talked himself out of the idea before they've even finished proposing it to him.

"Why do we have to go out?" Chas asks, aiming for casual disinterest and missing by a mile. "I could buy your favorite candy and we could stay in, have a boys night. We'll still dress up and everything!" His sons aren't overly impressed by the suggestion, to say the least. 

They bring the idea up again on Sunday while they over at his mother's house for dinner. Eli's there, because he always is. He'd been released from rehab a few months earlier and was supposed to be writing his next book. Chas has noticed during the few times they've run into one another since Eli's release that Eli seems to be looking for excuses to do anything but write. He latches on to the boys' proposal right away, asks, "What exactly were you thinking of going as?" 

Ari and Uzi exchange glances, and Chas can't help but notice how neither of them look his way. It feels pointed. "We hadn't gotten that far yet," Ari answers. "We're working in stages," Uzi adds. "Once we get approval, then we'll think about costumes and neighborhood-to-candy allotment ratios."

"Well, it sounds like a great idea to me! Your dad used to love Halloween as a kid; I've never seen anybody talk themselves into getting second helpings as well as he did," Eli brags with pride in his voice, as if he were somehow directly responsible for Chas' bossiness. Ari shoots Chas an injured look, while Uzi just frowns at him, as if he'd suspected that Chas was being unfair but hadn't wanted to say as much.

Chas fidgets in his seat and toys with his napkin. "I really don't feel comfortable—"

"Oh is that all?" Eli interrupts. "I'll take 'em." And with that the matter's settled. The rest of dinner is spent conjuring up costume suggestions. The boys, as always, are amenable to their costumes being a matching set, and Eli wants in on that action. Etheline, Henry, and Margot think that they should go as ghosts, while Richie's convinced that having them dress up like Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer would be perfect. Eli keeps pressing for the three of them to dressed up as cowboys, and, eventually, his insistence pays off. They boys agree to go as cowboys, but only with the stipulation that Eli goes as an Indian.

  
CHAPTER TWO 

Eli's waiting outside their apartment when Chas gets back from picking the boys up from school. He'd told Chas that he wanted to help out, but Chas hadn't expected him to show up until the sun had already set. Eli always only _barely_ ever made it on time to things; Chas can't remember the last time he was actually early for something.

Chas wants to make that the costumes Eli bought fit, so the two of them help the boys try them on, and then comes the struggle of pleading with them to take them back off, so that they won't get stained or damaged before it's time for them to leave. Once that's settled, Chas fixes the four of them an early dinner, though Eli doesn't help with that, opting instead to hover around the kitchen while Chas cooks. It feels like no time has passed at all when Chas looks outside the window and sees that the sun's finally set. Eli and the boys get dressed in their respective costumes and are out the door before Chas has enough time to get sufficiently worked up over the whole ordeal.

He cleans up around the house to keep from worrying to much, but it's the best kind of distraction when the other children that live in their complex eventually make their way to Chas' door. He dutifully doles out fistfuls of candy, hoping to change their opinion of him, because he's all too aware of how their parents mock his neurosis.

  
CHAPTER THREE 

Chas pounces when the front door opens, shoves Eli out of the way so that he can inspect Ari and Uzi, makes sure that they weren't injured. Eli laughs and carries on into the living room, taking al three of their pillowcases full of candy with him.

The boys put up with Chas' fussing for longer than Chas expects, only bothering to pull away once his double checking threatenings to spill into a third pass. "I need to check that before they eat any of it," Chas shouts out in a rush, follows the boys into the living room to make sure they don't try to sneak any.

"Calm down," Eli says dismissively. "We swung by the hospital before I brought them home. Got it all x-rayed."

  
CHAPTER FOUR 

Eli's still in the living room when Chas comes back from tucking the boys into bed. "I thought you let yourself out," Chas says awkwardly, briefly glancing at the clock, seeing that it's nearly midnight. "Do you need me to call you a cab or — wait. Are you wearing pajamas?"

"The boys said I could spend the night," Eli explains.

" _What_?"

  
CHAPTER FIVE 

"The guest room isn't made up," Chas finagles. Throughout the entirety that Chas has known him, Eli has consistently and continually failed to read the mood of those around him. Chas prays that tonight will be the night that changes, but he won't hold his breath.

"Oh that's fine," Eli says, tearing Chas' hopes into shreds. Chas figures that at least Eli's consistent, if nothing else. "I don't mind sharing with you."

He follows Chas to the master bedroom and slips into Chas' bed, making himself at home while Chas goes through his evening ritual in a daze. By the time Chas climbs into bed next to him, Chas' almost certain that the candy he'd snuck from the boys had been laced after all. He has to be stuck in the middle of a bad drug trip, because nothing else makes since. 

It's when Eli breaks the awkward silence that's descended over them that Chas realizes that Eli hasn't even picked up on the fact that Chas' uncomfortable in the first place. "This is nice."

"Is it?" Chas shoots back snippily, but it goes right over Eli's head, just like the awkwardness of their situation has. 

A beat passes before Eli follows up his earlier proclamation with, "So, you wanna make out?"

"Uh," Chas says, because the last time they'd done _that_ , they'd both been fourteen and scared half to death that Richie would stumble in on them. Or worse, Royal would. 

He's saved when his bedroom door squeaks open and Ari pokes his little curly head in, seemingly unconcerned to find Eli in bed with his father. He opens the door fully and climbs into Chas' side of the bed, cuddling up to his father.

Uzi wanders into Chas' bedroom less than a minute after his brother. He slides into the middle of the bed and commandeers half of Eli's pillow for himself before conking out.

  
EPILOGUE

"Sorry," Chas whispers, though he's anything but.

"Naw, it's alright." Eli looks down at Uzi and smiles softly. He pulls the covers up and tucks them around Uzi's shoulders before settling himself back down onto the bed. "This is better."

**Author's Note:**

> If candy doesn't do you in, this will.


End file.
